Shamrock FC: Brave - Event Preview

October is a very busy fight month and to compete for those hard-earned ticket dollars promotions have to get creative to stand out from the crowd.

Shamrock FC's matchmaker Rob Donaker dug deep into the rolodex for some intriguing match-ups for October 17th's "Brave" at the Lumiere Casino.

Headlining the event is the popular Eric Irvin from Destruction MMA. Irvin is coming off a loss at Bellator 138 and will surely be in a foul mood heading into the event. The lightweight out of Farmington had won four straight until dropping a close to decision to Hugh Pulley at the Scottrade Center in June.

Irvin won the St. Louis MMA Regional Fighter of the Year for a great 2014 season with victories over Tyler Combs and Sal Woods in high profile fights. He has vowed to return to his strengths which is gritty wrestling and nasty ground and pound.

Taking on Irvin is Jeremy Castro, a veteran of over 30 fights. Catro's career spans back to 2007. Interesting enough, the two have a common opponents in "The Spaniard" Charlie Brenneman and Ronnie Britt. Both have losses to each by way of submission.

In a fight that will have plenty of local fight fans talking, Bo Kunz will face Steve Knogl. Kunz has been on a tear, recently competing as often as he is allowed in both kickboxing and MMA. Despite a sluggish performance against Sean Woodson in February, Kunz has won his last two MMA fights since his return to action at the start of the year and has become a staple for Shamrock FC's Xtreme Fight Night cards, competing on all but the inaugural show.

Knogl, the head coach at Granite City's CMMA, will be making his pro debut at age 47 and will surely have a few tricks up his sleeve for Kunz. Anyone that has seen Kngol at a recent fight event would have noticed he has slimmed down quite a bit in recent months. Kunz defeated one of Knogl's top students Jordan Dowdy over two years ago when both were amateur fighters.

Marco Hutch, an exciting amateur out of Southwest Missouri, will be making his pro debut for Shamrock FC when he takes on Jake Corry. Hutch, known to his fans as the "Afro Samurai," has an impressive record as an ammy and capped of his career with a blistering eight second KO in May.

On the amateur side, Fit of Fight's Erik Newman has been red hot and will face Quentin Garrison for the SFC flyweight tile. Newman defeated Kris Craig in July by unanimous decision to earn the shot. Garrison has won two out of his last three including a victory over Aaron Harvey and is one of the toughest opponents Newman has faced.

Here is the full fight card (subject to change):

Erik Irvin vs Jeremy Castro
Bo Kunz vs Steve Knogl
Matt Ray vs Bobby Mendica
Eric Newman vs Quentin Garrison (title)
Roddell Thomas vs Logan Weir

Shapen Jordan vs Andrew Decker
Dustin Lampros vs Cyrus Walker
Brandon Pearson vs Gaston Marabotto
Marye Dalton vs Michelle Ray
Derik Scott vs Cody Naucke
Tiffany Axton vs Cassie Davis
Dustin Ventimiglia vs Travis Perry
Alex Macias vs Jessie Coy
Joash Speaks vs Mark Kirland

Shamrock FC: Brave
Saturday, October 17th
Lumiere Casino, St. Louis, MO